Super Bowl Blues

Another Super Bowl has come and gone. In the build-up to The Big Game, three items caught my attention:

1. Tickets had a face value ranging from $900 to $1,200. "I know we are still paying off our credit card bills from Christmas and that we are a month behind on our electric and heating bills, Alice. But as a loyal Packers / Steelers fan, I just have to go to the game. I'll bring back a Cheesehead / Terrible Towel for you."

2. For those who couldn't get tickets inside the stadium, the NFL generously sold $200 standing room tickets outside the venue with a view of an outdoor Jumbotron and "performances" by the Cowboys' cheerleaders. "I know I could stay home and watch The Big Game in warmth and comfort, Alice. But the Packers / Steelers need my support in person. I know they can hear me cheering from the line to the Porta-Potty in the stadium parking lot."

3. About 1,250 fans with tickets were displaced when stadium officials deemed their seats "unsafe". Their assigned seats were over empty spaces that were structurally unstable. 850 were granted somewhere else to sit, but 400 were turned away with a refund of triple the $900 ticket price. "I had a helluva time at the Super Bowl! I got to see it in the TV section of a nearby Wal-Mart after they wouldn't let me into my unsafe seats. But the $2,700 they gave me paid for lots of souvenirs at the Wal-Mart and at half the price they wanted in the stadium. Of course, I'm out a few bucks for airfare and lodging, but it was worth it."

The Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NFL players and owners expires next month. There is a possibility that a lockout / strike will delay the start of the 2011 NFL season. Both the players (average salary $2 million per year) and the owners (average $500 million per year per team for TV contracts only) claim that they are looking out for the fans. If they truly are working in the best interests of the fans, the best thing they can do is give them a year's relief from $1,200 Super Bowl tickets, $200 for standing room, and "Sorry about that $900 seat that you can't sit in."